Knockdown Daily 9/17/21: Carlos Condit Declares Retirement
The retirement of former WEC and UFC champion leads the MMA headlines for Friday
Welcome to the Friday edition of the Knockdown Daily. There’s a lot to cover today, including last night’s CFFC card and some more regional MMA coming up tonight.
News
Former UFC, WEC Champion Carlos Condit Declares Retirement
Former WEC Welterweight Champion and former interim UFC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit has declared retirement from MMA, per a report from Damon Martin and Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting.
Condit, 37, is ending his career after fighting for nearly two decades through over 45 pro bouts. He made his pro debut all the way back in 2002 and has been on the big stage since 2007.
Condit was one of the more notable welterweights in WEC’s history, capturing their 170-pound belt in 2007 and defending it three times before moving to the UFC two years later.
Condit competed 19 times in the UFC and has been part of some of the larger fights in the promotion’s welterweight history. He most notably had a five-round brawl against Robbie Lawler in 2016, resulting in a fight that is one of the most praised in UFC’s history.
The New Mexico-based fighter was crowned an interim UFC champ in 2012, defeating Nick Diaz via unanimous decision. He lost a title unification bout later that year, facing Georges St. Pierre at UFC 154.
Condit remained active in the late stages of his career, fighting three times over the past year. While he snapped a five-fight losing streak in 2020 and gained a win in 2021, his career concluded with a unanimous decision loss against Max Griffin in July.
Blake Smith Secures Guillotine Choke In CFFC Debut, Captures Lightweight Belt
Blake Smith became the new CFFC Lightweight Champion in front of his home state on Thursday, scoring a third-round rear naked choke to dethrone Zulkarnaiyn Kamchybekov.
The fight headlined CFFC 100, which took place at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino & Hotel in Tampa, Florida, USA.
Smith applied the choke while Kamchybekov was in the motion of a takedown. Keeping with the attempt on the ground, he remained holding onto it for a few moments until the referee concluded the bout.
There was slight controversy after the fight, as Kamchybekov looked somewhat bewildered by the submission. While the former champ seemingly disputed the stoppage, a replay on the broadcast showed that he tapped on the back of Smith, submitting to the choke.
Earlier rounds in the fight were close, as Kamchybekov scored with some ground and pound and competed in striking positions on the feet with Smith.
Smith was making his CFFC debut. He was competing for the first time in over a year, with his two-fight winning streak from before being in late 2019 and early 2020.
Kamchybekov was looking to defend his belt for the first time. He captured the championship in April, stopping Jesse Smith in the second round of a fight. The win earlier this year was his third since joining the promotion in 2019.
A full report on CFFC 100 can be read here.
Quick Results:
Preliminary Card (Facebook)
Bout 1: Itso Babulaidze def. Lucas LaRue via Decision, Unanimous (Amateur)
Bout 2: Jesse Romano def. Andres Davalos via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 2:58) (Amateur)
Bout 3: William Rentz def. Quintin Bray via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 2:48)
Bout 4: Brandon Moran def. Adam Amado via Decision, Unanimous
Main Card (8:00PM EDT) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 5: Brandon Murphy def. Dave Romano via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 0:56)
Bout 6: Charlie Radtke def. Brandon Lopez via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 3:31)
Bout 7: Michael Dufort def. Troy Gerhart via Submission, Guillotine Choke (RD 1, 2:01)
Bout 8: Paris Artis def. Feraris Golden via Submission, Arm Triangle Choke (RD 3, 3:15)
Bout 9: Jason Eastman def. Andrew Richardson via Submission, Guillotine Choke (RD 2, 3:17)
Bout 10: Blake Smith def. Zulkarnaiyn Kamchybekov via Submission, Guillotine Choke (RD 3, 0:49) (CFFC Lightweight Championship)
Nikolas Motta vs. Cameron VanCamp Removed From September 18th UFC Event
UFC newcomers Nikolas Motta and Cameron VanCamp won’t be making their first walk to the octagon this weekend. Their bout has departed the promotion’s September 18th card, per an announcement made Thursday.
It was noted in the statement that the bout was cancelled due to injury, although it wasn’t specified which fighter suffered an injury.
Motta’s UFC debut has been anticipated for nearly a year now. The former CFFC Lightweight Champion earned his contract with the promotion late last year, defeating Joseph Lowry on TV show “Dana White’s Contender Series.”
He has now had three UFC bookings fall through. He was first set to meet veteran Jim Miller this weekend, but was paired against short-notice opponent VanCamp after he had to withdraw.
VanCamp was joining the UFC roster after putting together a four-fight winning streak from 2019 to 2021.
Saturday’s UFC card is still a busy one, with 14 fights currently in the lineup. The card is scheduled to be headlined by light heavyweights Anthony Smith and Ryan Spann.
Former Title Challenger Josh Fremd To Face Renato Valente In LFA 116 Main Event
Returning for the first time after losing a title shot earlier this year, middleweight prospect Josh Fremd will face Renato Valente at LFA’s October 22nd event.
The fight will headline LFA 116, which is scheduled to take place at the Dobson Arena in Vail, Colorado, USA.
Fremd lost an LFA title fight in May, getting stopped in the first round by now-UFC fighter Gregory Rodrigues. The bout was the culmination of a four-man tournament that the promotion held earlier this year.
Fremd had a dominant performance in the semi-finals of the bracket, defeating Bruno Oliveira in just under three minutes with strikes in January. The performance was part of a five-fight winning streak that he had developed since 2018.
The fight next month will be Valente’s first main event appearance in LFA. He scored his first victory in the promotion just two months back, defeating Chibwikem Onyenegecha via split decision.
Here’s how LFA 116 looks currently:
Main Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 6: Josh Fremd (7-2) vs. Renato Valente (8-4) (Middleweight)
Bout 5: Michael Stack (5-1) vs. Jackson Filho (4-2) (Featherweight)
Bout 4: Pauline Macias (4-1) vs. Marnic Mann (3-0) (Strawweight)
Bout 3: Jalin Fuller (5-0) vs. Ryan Charlebois (3-0) (Welterweight)
Bout 2: Haris Talundzic (3-0) vs. Brock Smith (4-1) (Welterweight)
Bout 1: Dan Argueta (5-0) vs. Rodney Mondala (6-3) (Bantamweight)
Preview
CES and Titan FC Go Head-To-Head
Major U.S. regional promotions CES and Titan FC will both be serving up events on Friday night. Customers of UFC Fight Pass will get to choose which program they want in the evening, as both shows will be offered on the service.
Bellator alum Matt Bessette will return in the main event of CES 64, facing Ryan Dela Cruz in a lightweight title fight. The bout headlines a card from the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, Connecticut, USA.
As mentioned in the Monday newsletter, Bessette was first set to fight in a grudge match against Bruce Boyington. However, plans changed after Boyington tested positive for COVID-19.
CES Bantamweight Champion Josh Smith will attempt to defend his belt for the first time in the co-main event of the card, fighting Jay Perrin.
Lower on the card, former Bellator fighters Justin Sumter, Nate Ghareeb and Gabrielle Gulfin will also appear.
Over at Titan FC 72, Victor Dias will put his flyweight belt on the line against rising Kyrgyzstan fighter Ryskulbek Ibraimov. The fight headlines a card that will take place at the InterContinental Miami in Miami, Florida, USA.
The show will also see GLORY Kickboxer Asa Ten Pow make his MMA debut against Kobe Bowen.
Programming Note: KnockdownNews.com will not provide live coverage of CES 64 or Titan FC 72. However, reports on the events will come out afterward and be featured in the Saturday edition of the newsletter.
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